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Our intrepid reporter Cynthia Drescher is shadowing Kell on Earth star and owner and CEO of People's Revolution Kelly Cutrone as she preps for the Davidelfin show, kicking off at the Salon at the Bryant Park tents at 2 p.m. today. Minute-by-minute drama! Male Models! Spanish royalty! Join us in the liveblog below, won't you?
12:53pm: We're at tech rehearsal for the Davidelfin show. They have an intern pretending to be a model walking down the runway to check the timing.
12:55pm: Kelly issues directions: "One, two three, lights. Sound. Girl." The intern comes out to time the walk, and she's wearing Acne wedge shoes. Music for the show will be Bjork.
12:58pm: Kelly: "We need to get the lighting right for the first look, even if it means cuing the smoke and then the light over and over again." Right now they're on the third attempt, and the intern/model doesn't even make it halfway down the runway before they know something is off and needs to be redone.
1:00pm: First look timing success! Moving on: "After the third girl is on the catwalk, we stop the smoke." They have fog machines right backstage, making fog during shows officially a trend this season.
1:02pm: Kelly just stepped out into the hallway as the huge Isaac Mizrahi show was emptying out. She air-kissed a bunch of people; others snapped photos of her like fangirls.
1:04pm: Kelly: "[The designers] want to keep the smoke the whole time." Someone else: "But backstage is so small!" Kelly: "They'll communicate with us if they're choking!"
1:06pm: Kelly is explaining "Clearcom," which is their headset communications system that doesn't get interference from cell phones. It's important not to talk a lot over it, but she does plan to make jokes. She gives an example of something funny she'd say: "Like I'd see a guy in the audience and I'd say 'Oh he's so hot, I'd like to throw it down with him!'"
1:08pm: Now we're backstage for photos and pizza. Kelly's talking to everyone all at once and with her mouth full: "It's nice to see you, you are doing great things!"
1:10pm: "No smiling and no stopping at the end of the runway," she says to the models.
1:13pm: Meeting with the designers. Kelly: "We're doing a snake. It's when all the girls walk continuously." A little later: "OMG, that pizza was so good."
1:16pm: The talk here is all about Clearcom. "Who's on Clearcom? Are you on Clearcom?" "Full rehearsal. I'm on Clearcom." Gotta wonder if that's how half the talk over Clearcom goes?
1:18pm: It's all black in here with the lights turned off before run through. I'm up on the photog risers to get good shots, and the three or four photographers already in here are stumbling all over each other. Kelly's asking everyone, "What do you need?"
1:19pm: Kelly remarks on a model's walk: "Did you see her? She's swinging her arm a lot." We noticed it too.
1:21pm The models are doing this run-through all still in their own clothes. More than one is wearing Uggs, and one guy has a vintage Dr. Dre tee.
1:22pm: Kelly's talking on Clearcom but facing me, so I keep thinking she's talking to me. "Your makeup looks really good, kids!"
1:25: "For the finale we can take three seconds; it's not going to hurt us."
1:27: There are stanchions in front of some front row seats. I hear the words "Spanish royalty."
1:28pm: "My back is fucked," says Kelly. "I have Fashion Week back." And a wink back at us. Perhaps because we can sympathize?
1:29pm: Something about how long each girl has on the runway. It's either 15 seconds for the walk down, or 15 seconds altogether. Regardless, 15 seconds is important.
1:30pm: Andrew--Kelly's assistant--is handling backstage. No sign of him since I met the whole crew 45 minutes ago.
1:32pm: Kelly and the designers are having a very long discussion about changing the music and the need to maybe burn another CD.
1:36pm: Media people are now checking in for backstage, pre-show press. Kelly sent designers off with a "Go do your press!"
1:37pm: "Coffee time!" The photogs are coming in to set up. We never did see Kelly drink any coffee after declaring "coffee time!"
1:38pm: New tactic from Kelly: "I'm going to have you ushers sit in these front row seats so I don't have to kick people out of them." (Such a good idea.)
1:47pm: She's moving ushers to every other chair so that they guard two chairs each until the rightful people come. Already a guy tried to take over a front row seat—a foreign interviewer.
1:49pm: All of this front-row guarding is very organized and calm.
1:50pm: Kelly explains that I am her shadow. I have all access to everywhere she goes except the toilet.
1:51pm: "If they show the card that says 'B-1,' that means they can sit there. Don't get up for mean people with no seat card," Kelly directs the ushers.
1:56pm: OK, it's real tight backstage now. "Models to your racks!"
2:00pm: First looks! No cameras while the models change.
2:01pm: Crisis! I lost Kelly.
2:02pm: I'm hanging out with the male models now, who are speaking languages I don't know and not yet changing, which is why I'm still here with my camera.
2:03pm: Found her! Whew. She's kicking a press girl out of backstage: "I've had enough of her. She's gotta go."
2:05pm: Another photographer kicked out. He claims he works for Andre Leon Talley but just called him Leon Talley and didn't know his title. What people will do to get backstage!
2:08pm: Kelly's giving an interview to Fox 5. Sunglasses on.
2:12pm: Ten or fifteen minutes til show time. I'm on the runway; Kelly is greeting Joe Zee and gabbing to the likes of Patrick MacDonald.
2:16pm: NBD, just said hey to my old friend Joe Zee.
2:18pm: Kelly has sent me up to the control booth. I can see my house from here. They're bringing in standing now.
2:23pm: The models are all going to be wearing STUNNING Louboutins, even the guys.
2:24pm It is beyond packed in here. This is the fullest show I've ever seen in the Salon.
2:25pm: OK, Kelly's up here! David will only take four steps for a bow, she clarifies to the tech people. We're ready. Kelly: "You guys all ready?"
2:26 The show is starting now!
2:31pm: The first looks are coming down the runway. We're seeing black and grey and yellow, plus some large check. The red soles really stand out.
2:32pm: It's surprisingly quiet and calm up here.
2:35pm: Final look! Aaaand my battery is dying.
2:41pm: OK, I'm backstage. Piles of Louboutins everywhere, getting put back into their red dustbags and taken away.
2:46pm: Models are maneuvering around backstage in the mess. One says plaintively, "I just want to go home!" as she navigates the crowd.
2:50pm: The designers and Kelly are besieged by foreign press. BESIEGED. We happily retreat to the W Hotel lounge still backstage and await some destressing time with Kelly.
Tomorrow! The full photo set from a real camera (not an iPhone!), plus video from the control booth and our post-show interview with Kelly!